Parks and Recreation: "Leslie's House"Review

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"I don't have the heart to tell them what's going to happen to Kurt Cobain in 1994."

By Matt Fowler

I'm starting to think that Leslie's (Amy Poehler) boyfriend, Justin (Justin Theroux), is a little too perfect. Is anyone else getting that vibe? I mean we all expect that her all-too-perfect relationship will have to come to an end at some point, right? I just can't see how it's going to happen. Officer Dave (Louis CK) was sort of a quaint, perfect catch in his own right and they had him move to San Diego. They can't make Justin move away too. Things are going to have to go horribly awry with this one. But until then, we can watch Leslie swoon over her shining white knight, and totally freak out about throwing a dinner party for him.

Here's the Leslie that we all know and love; more manic and spacey than the last episode, "The Set Up," but still with acceptable amount of wisdom and heart that prevents her from becoming a total goon. Just the fact that she turns herself in for her "crime" of having local Pawnee Rec Center teachers cater her party shows us all that she's a cut above the norm in the banal Parks department. It reminds me of Season 1's "Boy's Club' when she turned herself in for accepting a gift basket. But even though the situation was the same, this new Season 2 Leslie feels more organic and effective. Especially considering the fact that they've now surrounded her with more cartoonish characters (Fred Armisen, Will Arnett). She doesn't need to be the spotlight buffoon anymore.

Party at Knope's house!

Everyone got a chance to shine in this episode. They all took turns giving us a laugh and "Leslie's House" was a tremendous example of this series firing on all cylinders. Ron's (Nick Offerman) specific dinner party requests were hilarious. The man actually brought his own plate of deviled eggs! There was also an interesting dynamic involving the boys of Pawnee, where Andy (Chris Pratt) and Mark (Paul Schneider) both felt sheepish in front of the worldly, fascinating Justin, while Tom (Aziz Ansari) actually revels in Justin's hipness. Tom explains to the camera that the people in Pawnee are "just now getting into Nirvana." Tom's adoration of Justin comes to halt at the party when his ex-wife Wendy shows up. Tom tries to eat a pepper to top Ron, singing "this is how you eat it" a la Montell Jordan's 1995 hit "This Is How We Do It," only to scream f*** and leave the table. It was amazing and it, once again, showed how Parks is able to deftly incorporate the f-bomb into their Office-style docu-format.

It's weird to think that this episode actually marked the first time we saw Leslie's house. What wasn't a surprise though was how much of a pack rat/hoarder she was. This is a woman with a newspaper from 1986 because it contains the "first rumblings of Iran-Contra." This episode handily juggled all the different interpersonal-relations and histories of the characters; Andy/April, Ann/Mark/Andy, Ron/Wendy/Tom. Hell, they even had time to through in a lightning-quick dig at Jerry! I liked the fact that they haven't dropped Tom's real-life love for Wendy because I think it totally works for his character, and helps smooth out some of his more superficial edges.

I also have to mention Ron's great tactic for being a disciplinary action hearing witness – which was to be a hostile witness that only asks questions back. And I mentioned earlier that the manic, clumsy Leslie was back and it was a ton of fun to see her desperately call in a parade of Rec Center teacher to try and entertain Justin; from fencing to belly-dancing. I'm sure when we all saw Justin yawning we assumed he was just, well, tired. But Leslie's mind just doesn't go there and she has to assume the worst. It's actually pretty sweet for such a pathetic quality.